So a couple of weeks ago, Shona referred me to a cardiologist. She picked up something during my ECG and thought it'd be better for a referral.
Sakit ati ya kalo kudu bayar per visit segitu hahaha. Untung juga ini bukan sistem reimburse, jd kita sama sekali ga bayar apa2 di muka. Langsung hospital urus langsung ke asuransinya.
So went to Wakefield Hospital coz I have insurance, so might as well go to a private hospital.
Did another ECG and Echocardiogram. Happy to say that the Echo was good. ECG not looking too good though.
The cardiologist (yg tingggiiiii banget, kayanya the tallest person I've seen in my entire life! And yg miriiip banget sama Ros-nya Friends) sent me home with a Holter Monitor. Just to be sure and to see my heart rhythm for 24 hours.
So they fixed me with that device. Macam ecg, tp cuma ada 5 patches yg ditempel2 ke dada n bagian bawah ribs situ.
I had to wear that for 24 hours. Ga bole mandi huhuhuuuu.... This little device will record all heart rhythm. And kalo gw berasa ada symptom, gw kudu teken tombol kecil. Sama dikasi small diary, I need to write down what was I doing at the hour of the symptoms, and symptomnya apa aja... Nanti senen dibalikin.
Dipasangin sama technician-nya, tapi copotinnya nanti bisa sendiri.
Tu benda uda ampiirr gw copotin sebelon waktunya, cuma Andi keukeuh ga kasih.
Itu patches-nya gateeell2 perih deh lama2, kulit gw kan sensitif... Bukan patches nya si, tapi selotip yg buat nahan kabel2nya iu. Ahirnya sukses juga si pake 24 jam.
Intinya sih ya, thank God for insurance. tes ini itu semua gratis tis tiiss. Kalo bayar 1200$ kl di provate hospital. I could've gone to public hospital sih and sama aja bakal gratis juga.... Tapi nunggunya bisa lebi lama.
Ini penampakan si holter. This device dicantel dipinggang, macam fanny pack gitu.
Ini kotak n "diary" nya yg kudu gw isi kalo ada symptoms..
Anyway, how's the result?
Well, the holter picked up a quite significant tachycardia. My resting heart rate was obviously rapid, and not only that - it can spiked up so high without any exortion.
Further ECG was done last night, confirmed I have what they called an inapproriate sinus tachycardia (IST).
Glad to say that it is a benign condition, I wont ever get a heart attack nor cardiac arrest because of this condition. But IST can make my life quality deteriorate significantly if left untreated.
Imagine you've ran a marathon.
Your heartbeat rise to 120 bpm. You ran out of breath, you're gasping for air, your chest hurt... You're exhausted.
Well, that's exactly how I feel like. The only difference is, my heart rate wont go down after rest.
It went up to as rapid as 193 bpm... With NO exertion at all.
Imagine that.
Andi's heart rate after badminton was 110. His resting rate is 70-72 bpm. My resting rate is 125bpm! Imagine my exhaustion. Palpitations was so bad that it woke me up from my deep sleep. My heart never rest.
Naturally, I feel exhausted and moody and miserable.
As of tonight, I'm officially on low dose beta blocker. I dont know for how long. Could be 2 weeks, 2 years or for the rest of my life. I will take 3,125mg for the first five days to get my body used to it then 6,25 mg for two weeks then gradually they will increase the dose.
If beta blocker doesn't work, there is always an option for an ablation. But let's just not go there for now. Take it one atep at a time.
So how am I doing?
Well, honestly- dont really care about the drugs. I just want this heart rate to settle.
It's been so uncomfortable the last couple weeks.
I just hope the side effect of this beta blocker wont be too malicious to me.
Most common side effect is vivid dreams and lightheadedness. Well i hope they will lower my heart rate, not my blood pressure :)
Well here we go. Let's do this.
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